40 years ago, Singapore was confronted with severe unemployment, poor infrastructure, and a housing shortage. Today, the city-state has taken its place among the newly industrializing countries in Asia.
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Significant investments are needed in
the water and sanitation sector. Inadequate water supply and
sanitation undermines Indonesia’s status as a middle-income
count... Show More +ry, weakens the competitiveness of its cities, and
seriously affects the life of ordinary people. Improving
sanitation services alone can prevent economic losses of
more than US$6.3 billion per year. Water-related success
stories typically feature local governments that have
undertaken reforms, made politically unpopular decisions,
invested in PDAM equity, and required performance
improvements in return for their support. Show Less -

Indonesia has made a steady progress in
implementing trade reforms in recent years and this has been
one of several factors helping formal sector employment to
expa... Show More +nd reducing poverty levels and expanding the ranks of
Indonesia’s middle class. In addition, Indonesia has been
more fortunate than its neighbors in coming through global
financial crisis relatively unscathed. Going forward, an
aggressive push on trade reform designed to achieve higher
growth will help to increase employment opportunities in
higher-value industries, while also increasing international
and domestic trade. A number of on-going efforts are
designed to streamline and simplify trade-related
procedures, but require a great effort to yield results. Show Less -

Located at the eastern-most point of the
New Guinea islands, Bougainville comprises two large and
many smaller islands. It has a population of approximately
200,000... Show More + and over a dozen different languages. A province of
Papua New Guinea since 1975, Bougainville is now an
autonomous region within the country, the result of a
nine-year revolt that left tens of thousands killed, a
divided and traumatized population, degraded infrastructure,
and a shattered economy brought on by the collapse of its
main industry, mining. Prior to the conflict, women played
vital roles in community-level decision-making and were key
agents of development. Overall, women held important
positions in the family and community. The dynamics of the
conflict and post-conflict period weakened this role,
resulting in women being marginalized from community
decision-making processes. Further, during the conflict,
women suffered violence as victims of torture, rape, and
forced labor. The weakened capacity of women as agents of
development within their communities and the low capacity of
government departments working at the local level are widely
viewed as significant challenges to development efforts. Show Less -

The extractive industries sector has
been vital to the local economy of Papua New Guinea for over
20 years. Extractives have contributed substantially to
government... Show More + revenues but also face challenging social issues
and significant environmental impacts in many areas. A
persistent challenge has been ensuring that extractives
benefits reach local communities, including women and
children. Research shows that benefits tend to be captured
by men, while the impacts of social disruption and
environmental harm fall most heavily on women and children. Show Less -

Papua New Guinea has experienced strong,
resource-led, economic growth over the past 10 years, yet
basic development outcomes have remained the same or
improved onl... Show More +y marginally over the same period. Efforts from
the government and key partners to improve systems and
capabilities are helpful but are yet to reach the
local-level government (LLG) and ward levels where the most
basic services are needed. Often the lowest levels of
government do not have the resources or staff to provide
regular or adequate social and economic services to the community. Show Less -

Cross-country comparisons have
identified several enabling conditions required to ensure
the sustainability of payroll tax-based systems. These are:
(i) a large fo... Show More +rmal labour market; (ii) a growing economy;
(iii) an administrative capacity for collection; and (iv)
good regulatory and oversight structures. Political
willingness is another important factor. The brief below
discusses in detail the technical enabling conditions in the
context to introduce and expand social health insurance in
Papua New Guinea (PNG). Successful introduction of social
health insurance (SHI) financing in PNG will, in part,
depend on the feasibility of expanding coverage to the
entire population, including the informal sector. A second
important factor is how an increase in contribution rates
will affect labour and capital markets. Expanding SHI
coverage to the informal sector will be challenging in
almost all contexts. The population in the formal sector is
relatively easy to enrol and collect contributions from due
to the availability of employment earnings records. The
population in the informal sector is typically not
affiliated with any organisation from which to enrol and
collect premiums. They are also poorer and less able to
afford premiums. Show Less -

This report examines three broad health
financing options in PNG: (i) increasing the level of
general revenue spending; (ii) introducing contributory,
insurance-bas... Show More +ed health financing arrangements; and (iii)
mobilizing additional resources through efficiency savings
in the sector. While PNG might potentially increase its
level of public health spending in the medium to long term,
the Governments first priority should be to address the
inefficiencies in spending that currently undermine service
delivery and key health system goals such as equity of
access. Alternatives such as social health insurance are not
viable options to finance any increase in health spending
given low levels of formal employment and administrative challenges. Show Less -

Papua New Guinea is a relatively young
country, having gained independence in 1975. Since then,
minerals - particularly gold and copper - have been the
backbone of ... Show More +the economy. However, the country has made only
modest progress in using its minerals for poverty reduction
and better living conditions for Papua New Guineans. The
Second Mining Sector Institution Strengthening Technical
Assistance Project builds on the results of the first
technical assistance project, completed in 2006. The first
project strengthened institutional capacity within the
Mining Department and the Internal Revenue Commission and
contributed to improving the framework for socially and
environmentally sustainable privatemineral
investment. This second project will improve the benefits
from the extractive industries - mining, oil ,and gas - to
the national budget and to mining-affected communities. The
project will also reduce the mining sector's health and
safety risks for small-scale miners. After agriculture,
small-scale mining is the largest source of rural incomes,
supporting an estimated 500,000 people including the miners
and their families. Show Less -

A lack of maintenance and repairs since
the country's independence in 2002 has led to the poor
condition of most of Timor-Lestes road network. Despite
minor works ... Show More +on the main road between Dili and the Indonesian
border with West Timor, as well as emergency repairs to
areas damaged by landslides, a survey conducted in 2009
found that the vast majority of the road network was no
longer repairable. General road failures and frequent
landslides means it is often impossible to negotiate the
roads, particularly during the rainy season. This is not
only caused by the effects of the weather, but also by a
lack of maintenance and poor design, with many roads lacking
drainage capacity and sound foundations. As a result of the
road conditions, communities are becoming increasingly
isolated, vehicle operating and freight costs are growing,
and journey times are rising. The Timor-Leste Road Climate
Resilience Project is investing in the existing road network
to improve its climate resilience. The project focuses
heavily on the rehabilitation of the Dili-Ainaro Corridor.
This 110km road corridor serves as a vital cross-country
link between the north and the south of Timor-Leste,
connecting the districts of Dili, Aileu and Ainaro - or 32
percent of the country's population. Overall, the
project will benefit residents of rural areas, whose incomes
and access to vital services are directly impacted by the
condition of the road. With improved roads; hospitals and
schools will be more accessible and farmers will be able to
improve agricultural production through better contact with
local and regional markets. Show Less -

Access to resources is low across the
elementary and primary school systems in Papua New Guinea.
The National Department of Education (NODE) is keenly aware
that en... Show More +rollment in primary and elementary school provide
little value unless equal priority is given to improving
teaching and learning. This requires resources such as books
and reading materials for students, but also professional
development for teachers to support them with reading
instruction. The main aim of the Reading Education Project
is to promote better teaching and learning of reading skills
in elementary and primary education. In order to achieve
this, funding will be provided for classroom libraries and
other educational materials and to train teachers on how to
incorporate these into their language and reading lessons.
The project will increase the supply of literacy materials
in schools. Professional development will be provided to
teachers on how to use classroom libraries to encourage
children to read.Show Less -

More than 80 percent of Papua New
Guinea's population lives in rural areas. Most of these
people depend on subsistence activities such as smallholder
farming and fi... Show More +shing as well as alluvial mining and betel nut
sales for their livelihoods. One of the main barriers to
shared growth and development in rural areas is poor quality
and lack of access to information and communication
technologies (ICT). In fact, access levels are some of the
lowest in the world. Service delivery is extremely low due
to high prices and limited investment in access networks. In
mid-2007, total tele-density was just four percent
countrywide and zero percent in the majority of rural areas.
Private operators and aggressive competition in the mobile
sector has resulted in increased coverage and access.
Despite this, access is still limited in many parts of the
country. The objective of the Rural Communications Project
is to facilitate improved access to affordable and reliable
telecommunications in rural and remote areas of Papua New
Guinea. The project will provide telecommunications access
to nearly 500,000 rural Papua New Guineans and facilitate
broadband internet access in rural district centres that
currently do not have any form of internet services. Show Less -

The Government of Papua New Guinea aims
to increase the size and economic contribution of the
domestic private sector consisting mainly of small and
medium enterpri... Show More +ses (SMEs), with a focus on generating
employment. Despite large external investments in Papua New
Guineas resource sector, private sector activity in the
formal economy is low. In particular, women and young people
remain dependent on small-scale, informal businesses for
their livelihoods. There are currently significant
constraints to SME growth and investment, chief among which
is the difficulty in accessing credits by SMEs, despite
sufficient liquidity in the banking sector. This occurs for
two main reasons. Firstly, SMEs often lack the collateral,
information or guarantees needed to meet commercial banks
requirements for lending. Secondly, banks perceive high
levels of risk in lending to SMEs. Addressing these
impediments should enable local SMEs to more actively engage
in economic growth, job creation and poverty reduction
across Papua New Guinea. Show Less -

A large part of Papua New Guineas (PNG)
road network is in poor condition. For many people travel by
road can be impossible, unsafe, or expensive. Without
reliable... Show More + access to roads people cannot reach schools,
hospitals and markets when needed, and goods and services
become unavailable. The poor condition of PNGs road network
is due to historical underfunding of maintenance, rugged
terrain, and periods of heavy rainfall. The participation of
communities to carry out routine maintenance activities
holds promise. Show Less -

The majority of Papua New Guinea's
population lives in rural areas, largely dependent on
agriculture for their livelihoods. Coffee and cocoa are the
main cash crops... Show More +, with half of the country's total
workforce involved in their production, processing, and
sale. Despite its importance, the quality and productivity
of Papua New Guinea's coffee has been declining,
largely due to a lack of replanting, limited incentives for
smallholder farmers, and poor access to markets. The cocoa
industry has been experiencing similar issues in addition to
the threat posed by the cocoa pod borer. The Productive
Partnerships in Agriculture Project (PPAP) aims to combat
these problems in order to improve the livelihoods of
smallholder cocoa and coffee producers, and promote rural
development and poverty reduction more broadly. Show Less -

Solomon Islands is at high risk to
natural hazards. Located in the Pacific Ring of Fire and
within the cyclone belt, it is one of the 20 countries in
the world most... Show More + vulnerable to economic risk exposure caused
by geological, hydrological and climatic hazards. This
includes tropical cyclones, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes,
tsunamis, landslides, floods and droughts. There have been
seven major disasters triggered by natural hazards in the
past 30 years, causing loss of life and having a severe and
adverse impact on the economy each time. Modelling predicts
natural hazards and climate change will lead to an average
direct loss of US$20.5 million - or 3 percent of the gross
domestic product (GDP) - annually for the next 50 years. In
April 2014, 23 people, predominantly women and children,
lost their lives after a low depression caused flooding that
swept through Honiara and the Guadalcanal Plains. Total
damage and losses from the floods is estimated at US$108
million or 9.2 percent of GDP. Show Less -

The objectives of the Energy Sector
Development Project are, through technical assistance, to
strengthen the policy development and strategic framework
for renewabl... Show More +e energy and rural electrification, and to
attract investors for the sustainable development of a new
hydropower generator that will supply the Port Moresby grid.
The project has two components: (1) Technical assistance the
energy sector policy and strategy development. This
component focuses on the policy and strategy of the
electricity sector with a focus on rural
andrenewable energy in PNG. It will also provide
capacity building for the Government of PNG's role in
development of the Naoro Brown hydropower project. (2)
Technical assistance for preparation and planning for Port
Moresby hydropower supply. This includes the preparation of
the Naoro Brown hydropower project (approximately 80MW) to
supply the Port Moresby grid, and improved planning related
to hydropower supply for Port Moresby. Show Less -

The main objective of the UYEP is to
provide disadvantaged urban youth between the ages of 16 and
35 in the National Capital District (NCD) with income from
tempora... Show More +ry employment opportunities, and to increase their
employability. This will be done through three components:
(1) Youth Job Corps: Community awareness, mobilization and
screening campaign followed by basic life skills training
and 40 days of labor-intensive employment for eligible
youth; (2) Skills Development and Employment Scheme:
Additional Pre-Employment Training (PET) and a further five
months of on-the-job placements/training for eligible youth;
and (3) Project Management: Implementation and technical
support to NCDC. The project aims to impact 10,500
beneficiaries in the NCD and produce more than one-million
work days. Eighty percent of the projects budget will be
invested directly into the economy in the form of training,
youth stipends, goods, and services through contracted
public works. The project will issue mobile phones and
establish BSP Kundu bank accounts for almost all youth
participants with the help of Bank of South Pacific,
Digicel, and PNG Telikom. Exxon Mobil will provide
supervision and monitoring support, valuable to improve the
delivery of the project, the project's youth and the
future of PNG. Show Less -

Malnutrition is responsible for nearly
half (45 percent) of all deaths in children under five.
Children who are undernourished between conception and age
two are at... Show More + high risk for impaired cognitive development,
which adversely affects the countrys productivity and
growth. The World Bank is supporting nutrition-related
interventions through multiple projects. For example, the
PNPM Generasi Sehat dan Cerdas (National Program for
Community Empowerment, Healthy and Bright Generation) has
set nutrition-sensitive targets including improving the use
of maternal and child health services and consumption of
Vitamin A for children under five. In 2014, PNPM Generasi is
expected to extend to three more provinces, and to include a
new focus on stunting reduction by providing IYCF (Infant
and Young Child Feeding) training to service providers and
community volunteers to improve their counseling skills. In
the PKH/Program Keluarga Harapan, a conditional cash
transfer is being piloted to focus on improving the health
and education services utilization including prenatal and
postnatal check-ups, professionally attended birth, growth
promotion and monitoring, Vitamin A supplementation, etc. At
the policy level, the World Bank is supporting the Review of
Double Burden of Malnutrition (DBM) in Indonesia to discuss
the magnitude and causes of this emerging problem, and to
improve the capacity and governance to address the DBM in
the country. Show Less -

Learning lessons from demand-side
governance or social accountability initiatives is no
different in principle than learning lessons in other
development projects. ... Show More +Evidence from Cambodia however,
suggests that a range of disincentives affect the learning
process. Capacity, financing, competition, a desire to be
seen to succeed and a lack of willingness to do things
differently, all curtail the lesson learning process. This
note sets out some of the issues encountered in the Demand
for Good Governance (DFGG) project and makes recommendations
for innovative projects to be cast as learning initiatives
that address disincentives and create space for learning
about what works, what doesnt work and why. Show Less -

Beneficiary and third party monitoring
of government services is new to Cambodia, but recent
efforts at the district level have paved the way for local
NGOs to vent... Show More +ure into this field successfully. As a part of
an initiative to provide transparent and accountable
administrative services at the district level, a DFGG grant
stimulated a partnership between the One Window Service
Office (OWSO) and a provincial NGO. This partnership is
unique in so much as it supported government in promoting
awareness of citizens through outreach and mobilization
activities. At the same time the arrangement provided an
important monitoring and feedback mechanism. Although this
dual role creates a complex set of activities and a
multi-sided relationship with the One Window Service Office
(OWSO) and District Administration, it has been very
effective in improving accountability and responsiveness.
The approach is now being replicated to OWSOs in 24
provinces, not only through grants to NGOs, but also by OWSO
directly contracting NGOs. Show Less -